Editor’s note: This story originally was published on Dec. 26, 2006, in the Pioneer Press.

I met a guy who has hit more home runs than anybody in baseball. Sadaharu Oh. He had 868 home runs. I asked him his philosophy in hitting. He said eat, drink, shreep – he said shreep – and practice. He took a bat home after every game, whether he went 0 for 4 or 4 for 4, and swung it a thousand times. I was pretty dedicated, but I doubt I would do that after going 4 for 4. I told Ted Williams that. I thought he was the most dedicated player I ever saw, and he did not make any comment at all.

I’m 70. If I could change anything about my life, I’d make me younger. You know what Stan Musial said, “Old age is not for sissies.”

If I had a time machine, I think I’d try to go back to where I was the best in my life physically. Don’t ask me when that is, I would guess sometime in the 1960s, so I could play again.

Like all kids in my era, I read comic books – Captain Marvel and Batman and that sort of thing.

Superman was my favorite superhero.

I played all sports in high school: Football, basketball, baseball and some track. Track wasn’t as big in those days. I used to be fast when I was young. Then I got older and had leg complications. I slowed down a lot. I wasn’t bad in basketball. I was a forward. In football, I was a quarterback. I was a high school All-America quarterback and accepted a scholarship to play at the University of Oregon. My brother graduated from Oregon’s journalism school. The school had great football and baseball programs. Then I ended up signing with the old Washington Senators instead.

If I didn’t play baseball, I was going to study physical therapy. That or go into business. Like a lot of guys, I probably would have gone into coaching.

My parents had the biggest influence in my life. I had great parents. My father was a great athlete. He played football and ran track at Millikin University, and he later played at West Virginia Wesleyan for Greasy Neale, who became the Philadelphia Eagles’ coach.

As a kid, I wanted to grow up and be an athlete. Baseball was my first love. I started playing baseball when I was 8 years old. I always loved the game. I still do.

I can’t think of anything I did really bad as a kid. Not that I was perfect, by any means. I got in trouble once with my brother. He took me out of the neighborhood, and we were in a ditch doing something we shouldn’t have done. It wasn’t really my fault.

When you have children, that’s got to be some of your proudest days. And to see them grow into adults, those were some of my proudest days.

Nita is my second wife. We’ve been married 16 years. How’d I know she was the one? I just fell in love with her.

Do I wish I could play baseball today? People have asked me that question. If you’re talking about the money, that would be nice. But I can honestly say I’m very glad I played baseball when I did. I think the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s were the golden years of baseball. More great players played during that period than any other. You had Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Ted Williams, Sandy Koufax, Whitey Ford.

What’s the best day of my life? I try to make every day the best day.

A lot of things make me laugh. My grandkids make me laugh a lot. They range from 1 year old to 26 years old. They’re really something. They come up with good material.

I wasn’t grumpy after a loss. That’s one of the things I learned early on. You shouldn’t get too high when you win, and you shouldn’t get too low when you lose. You should try to keep the peaks and valleys not too high and not too low. I’ve tried to pass that along to a lot of players. Some listen. Some don’t.

Not a whole lot makes me angry. I don’t easily get angered.

Early on, I got some good instruction from my father and probably got some good genes from him, too.

There’s something inside a player that makes them either try to excel, or they don’t. Why do some players get to a certain point and don’t improve? Desire is the thing. I had the desire to excel.

Baseball is like any other walk of life. It has its ups and downs. It may look rosy on the outside. Baseball is like everyday life. It has its good days and its bad days.

When I started playing baseball, I didn’t think about being known as a great player. I never thought about that sort of thing. I was so young and so naive. I was just so happy to be there and have a chance to play.

What do I want the people of Minnesota to know about me? Sometimes, I think they know more about me than I know about myself.

I’m still working for the Minnesota Twins. I do special events for the Twins. One of those special events is a golf tournament we started. We get a chance to help a lot of people this year and next year. We’re building “miracle” fields for kids that have physical handicaps. We get an opportunity to really do something that’s worthwhile. Incidentally, anybody that wants to help with that project can call the Twins.

I like to play golf. I used to hunt and fish a lot over the years. As I’ve gotten older, it has gotten more difficult to walk the hills at home, so I stopped hunting. I still like to fish. It’s something I’ve got to get back to doing.

I’d want my friends to say that I was helpful. I’d hate to have them say, “He didn’t want to help me when I needed help.” A lot of people helped me along the way, and I was very thankful of that. My mother told me when I was a young kid that the No. 1 reason we’re here on Earth is to help people. She’s right. What else is there?

Material things don’t mean that much to me. When I played, we didn’t keep a whole lot of things. We never thought about that. A lot of things have gotten away from me. That’s OK. They were just things.

I like Clint Eastwood movies. He’s one of my favorite actors.

My favorite book is a hitting book by Ted Williams: “The Science of Hitting.” Every young boy should read that if he’s interested in becoming a better hitter.

I cook old family recipes I got from my mother. My best dish is a mixture of rice and tomatoes and peppers and onions and ground beef. It’s really good. I like it, anyway.

I like most every music. I’m not big on rap.

I sing to myself. I like to sing. It’s one thing I wish I could do: be a piano player and a singer. If Simon Cowell heard me sing, he’d say, “That’s enough. See you later.”

I like some of the “CSI” shows that are on now. And I like the “Seinfeld” series. That was good.

The best advice I ever got came from my father. He said, “Don’t let people try to get you to lose your composure. Keep a cool head. If they get the best of you, they can beat you at anything.” I thought it was good advice. It worked a lot for me in sports and life, too.

The worst advice? There was this guy that told me to sell a certain stock. I shouldn’t have listened to that advice. It would have been unbelievable if I kept it. I made a lot of money on it, but I could have made a lot more.

If I could trade places for a day with anyone? I don’t think I’d trade with anybody, except a younger me. I’d like to shave 40 years off.

I want my epitaph to say, “Here lies Harmon Killebrew, who was a good friend and tried to help others.”

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